Blogging: 101 ways to make friends or kill customers

I was asked to speak at a lunch-and-learn session recently. The topic was blogging. The Creative Coast has blogged for years. We produce weekly content that’s commented on and retweeted, and we generally receive quality traffic.

I was asked to talk about how we go about producing weekly content and to provide some insight into blogging.

I spoke in generalities mostly because the group in attendance was a mixed bag of individuals representing nonprofits, as well as small, medium and large for-profit companies.

Blogs are simple.

A blogger (writer) posts a message onto a Web page. This message can be a short sentence, a joke, a link to another Web page, a long rant or a video. The message, in whatever form, is simply content.

One thing that differentiates blogs from say, traditional print media, is that blogs are generally more interactive. In traditional print media, you must wait 24-hours, at least, for someone to respond to an article or op-ed whereas blogging allows for instant call and response.

This is where the magic happens.

Successful blogs have huge readership. Content is retweeted on Twitter or linked to Facebook pages. Something really interesting can go “viral,” seen around the world by thousands, even millions, of readers in minutes.

In the same way that traditional newspapers might want their stories to be picked up by national or international news outlets, bloggers want as many people sharing or commenting on their daily content as possible.

This leads to more readers, larger audiences, etc.

During my recent conversation with the lunch group, a few participants got excited when we began discussing the idea of comments. Comments are simply readers responding to the blog post.

Many companies and organizations use blogs as marketing tools, and they fear negative comments to their blogs.

“What if someone posts something negative?” an attendee asked.

I responded, “You respond.” You create a dialogue. That’s the purpose of blogging. There are occasions in which extremely hurtful or negative comments may be posted in response to your blog. In these instances, you remove the comment.

The goal of a blog is to encourage a community of people to begin engaging with you and your content.

What good is your content if no one is interacting with it? Imagine piles of newspapers that no one is reading. Imagine no comments or responses to the op-ed page (I doubt that will ever happen in Savannah!).

After perusing numerous blogs, it becomes obvious that the companies and organizations that fear negative comments on their blogs are the same companies and organizations that fear criticism in traditional forms.

For these companies and organizations, I imagine blogs with countless postings, little to no readership, zero comments and a sales-pitch persona. If this is their public image (albeit Web-based), what does this say about their organization?

Your website and its ancillary components are an extension of your organization.

Most people who read blogs, including me, gravitate toward groups or brands that buzz. They are attracted to organizations that aren’t afraid of stimulating conversation and companies that can respond to negative comments in a professional manner.

Companies and organizations seeking to increase customer loyalty and expand their markets via new social media tools must understand that your online image is a reflection of your organization in the flesh.

Jake Hodesh is the executive director of The Creative Coast, and can be reached at (912) 447-8457 or jake@thecreativecoast.org

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